NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Opening Round Game
The Opening Round game, (commonly known as the Play-In Game) of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship was the first official game of the tournament, played between two of the lowest-seeded teams to qualify for an automatic bid to the tournament. Beginning in 2001, the game was typically played on the Tuesday following the Sunday selection of the other teams for the March tournament and was played at University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The winner of the game was awarded the #16 seeded position in one of four regions of the tournament and next played the #1 seeded team of that region on the following Friday. No winner of that game, nor any other #16 seed, has upset the #1 seeded team. However, three of the top seeds to beat the opening game winner advanced to the national championship game and all three won the national championship (2002 Maryland, 2005 North Carolina and 2010 Duke). North Carolina was the only #1 seeded team matched against the opening round winner more than once (2005 & 2008). On April 22, 2010, the NCAA has announced that the tournament would expand to 68 teams, with "Play-In Games" in each of the four brackets starting with the 2011 tournament . Consequently, the uniqueness of the single, opening round game lasted from 2001-2010. History The game was conceived after the Mountain West Conference, which had been formed in 1999 following the split of the Western Athletic Conference, was given an automatic bid for its conference champion, which made it the 31st conference to receive an automatic berth into the men's tournament. Unlike the women's tournament, which accommodated this change by eliminating an at-large bid to keep their field at 64 teams, the organizers of the men's tournament elected to keep their at-large entries at 34. In order to eliminate one of the teams to have a 64-team bracket, it became necessary for another game to be played between the two lowest-ranked teams among the automatic bid leagues. Criticism Although analysts’ initial reactions to the concept were skeptical, the first game, played on March 13, 2001, was a success, and few complaints have been heard since. One reason for these positive comments is the fact that the game has played on a Tuesday night, during which no other games are played (the first round of the tournament starts the following Thursday). Thus, the opening round game assumes a greater prominence than most first-round games, both to the viewing public and to scouts. Prior to the proposal of expansion, Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim had advocated for an expansion of the tournament from 65 to 76 teams, which would include four opening round games for all of the 16th and possibly added opening round games for the 15th seeded teams too.http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14226538.htm The expansion of play in games faced logistical challenges and lukewarm acceptance from deceased NCAA President Myles Brand and the corporate and media partners of the NCAA, but on April 22, the NCAA, as part of an announcement of a new 14-year, US $10.8 billion agreement between CBS Sports and TimeWarner's Turner Sports division that will include three more "play-in games", subject to the approval of the NCAA Executive Committee. The opening round games has also been criticized as a handicap for teams among the historically black colleges and universities. In all but one of the games played so far, one of the teams has been an HBCU. However, the two conferences which are made up of HBCUs, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference, are often two of the lowest-rated conferences in the RPI. Prior to the announcement of the new contract for television, ESPN carried the Opening Round game and has done so since 2002. The National Network (TNN, formerly known as The Nashville Network and now called Spike), at the time a corporate sibling of NCAA Tournament carrier CBS, aired the first game in 2001. Florida A&M (2004 & 2007) and Winthrop (2001 & 2010) are the only teams to appear in the game more than once. The 2003 game is the only one to end in overtime. Opening Round or Play-In Game The reason the game is not officially referred to as a "play-in" is because the two teams are officially in the tournament before the game is played. As recently as 1991, the NCAA has conducted play-in games (usually between champions of what were considered to be the weakest conferences ) prior to the announcement of the brackets; the losers were not considered to have been in the tournament. Note that the losers of the current opening round game are still credited with a tournament appearance for purposes of sharing in the NCAA basketball contract revenues, while the winners receives a share for being in the round of 64. Teams Appearances by conference References Category:NCAA Division I Men's Basketball championship